1986/87: Ajax revive their traditions
Monday 1 June 1987
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Ajax celebrate winning the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (©Getty Images)
AFC Ajax 1-0 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig
Olympic Stadium, Athens
The final is remembered because Marco van Basten took centre stage for the first time by scoring the winning goal. It was his sixth of the campaign and fellow striker Johnny Bosman, who missed the final, contributed eight. Along with Frank Rijkaard, Jan Wouters, Aron Winter, Arnold Muhren, Johnny van’t Schip and Rob Witschge, they formed a team which, coached by Johan Cruyff who was making his debut on the bench, lived up to the finest AFC Ajax traditions. A certain Dennis Bergkamp came on as 65th minute substitute in the Athens final.
Surprising opposition for Ajax
Their opponents were 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig, a solid if unimaginative team from the German Democratic Republic with an excellent goalkeeper in René Müller. They made unspectacular but solid progress, beating Glentoran FC of Northern Ireland 3-1 and, in the second round, raised a few eyebrows by eliminating SK Rapid Wien after extra-time. The draw gave them FC Sion in the quarter-finals and they beat the Swiss 2-0. A curious semi-final against FC Girondins de Bordeaux produced two 1-0 away wins and victory for Lokomotiv in a penalty shoot-out.
Solitary strike decides final
The final in Athens was disappointing. Marco van Basten’s 21st minute header led the 35,000 fans to believe that the match would burst into life. But the East Germans spent the rest of the game confirming that they were durable and obstinate opposition capable of barring Ajax’s path to their goal but lacking the technical resources required for a come-back.
| AFC Ajax - 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig | 1 - 0 |
| Stage | Final |
| Half-Time | 1 - 0 |
| Date | 13.05.1987 |
| Kick-Off | 21:15:00 |
| Venue | Olympic |
| City/Town | Athens |
| Attendance | 35,107 |
| Referee | AGNOLIN Luigi (ITA) |
| Match Report | |||||
 | 21' | VAN BASTEN Marco | |||
 | 55' | EDMOND Frank (out) / LEITZKE Hans-Jörg (in) | |||
| 66' | WITSCHGE Robert (out) / BERGKAMP Dennis (in) | |||
| 76' | LIEBERS Matthias (out) / KÜHN Dieter (in) | |||
| 83' | MUHREN Arnold (out) / SCHOLTEN Arnold (in) | |||
| Team Line-Ups | |
| AFC Ajax | 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig |
| MENZO Stanley (G) | MÜLLER René (G) (C) |
| SILOOY Sonny | KREER Ronald |
| VERLAAT Frank | BAUM Frank |
| RIJKAARD Frank | LINDNER Matthias |
| BOEVE Peter | ZÖTZSCHE Uwe |
| WINTER Aron | BREDOW Uwe |
| WOUTERS Jan | SCHOLZ Heiko |
| MUHREN Arnold (C) | LIEBERS Matthias |
| WITSCHGE Robert | EDMOND Frank |
| VAN'T SCHIP John | RICHTER Hans |
| VAN BASTEN Marco | MARSCHALL Olaf |
| Head Coach | |
| BERGKAMP Dennis | LEITZKE Hans-Jörg |
| SCHOLTEN Arnold | KÜHN Dieter |
| Head Coach | |
| CRUYFF Johan | THOMALE Hans-Ulrich |
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